Have just read this poem for the very first time at age 47.My uncle who is
a very spiritual person told me to read this poem after an incident I had
this very morning.In Australia we call these birds "Crows" I was in my
study at home on my PC & heard a loud tapping noise at the window thAT WAS
2 feet away from me. seeing my Daughter was sitting only feet away from me
on the other side of the room & now knowing she was not outside playing a
trick on me I pulled back the curtain. Outside the window on top of a
container was a very large Crow & it was looking directly in through the
window at me as if knowing I was in the room & was waiting for me to pull
back thr curtain.I called for my Daughter to come & see ( 30 yrs old ) &
she could not beleive it either. She spoke to him & he was going on in bird
talk back at her but then I spoke asking "what is the matter" every time I
spoke he moved closer & closer to the window until if it had not been for
the insect screens on the window we could have touched him. The look was
very direct at us & he was not like a usual bird that flitters around etc
he was very calm & sat talking to us for about 2 minutes gazing straight at
us at all times but even my Daughter said that even though he would
acknoweldge her when she spoke it was as if it was me he had come to talk
to. When he seemed to be finished speaking he jusy calmly took flight!
I have over many years in Australia heard Aboriginal people say that the
Crow if it appears before you or comes to you it is a sign of a death or
some type of bad happenings. Does anyone know what does all this mean !
Please I will wait to hear from you!!!!!

I Have also loved this poem for many years.
I have to agree with everything that Aly Nanji said. It was exactly what I
was going to post.
Its a dreary poem of course, that was his intention but he made it so you
couldn't just read it once and get the jist of it. He wanted it to boggle
your mind and make you want to re-read it to see what you missed and what
connections you make to the subtle hints he has put in there. Its not just
about a man who has sunken into deep depression over his Lenore. It also
shows you that in the end, he has no choice but to accept her as never
coming back. We have all been there. Someone we love has died and we
sometimes think that we will greive later, when we are alone, or when we
can fit it in our schedule and then one day, we have a memory or we see
something that reminds us of that person and we totally loose it and have a
mini-breakdown. I think that is what happened on this particular gloomy
dreary night. Maybe there was a Raven, Maybe it was part of his delusional
hysteria of mourning. But the Raven plays a significant part in how he
deals with his own reality.
I love this poem. I still may not understand it all. That is why I read it
over and over again. Learning more about it each time. Its nice to see that
other people are also doing that. That others relate to Mr. Poe's
Intelligent Life's work. I agree it is a disgraceful shame that he was
recognized for his great acheivements. Today he would have been a literary
hero and probably on Good Morning America.
All your opinions are very cool.

“The Raven” uses several literary elements to amplify the mood the author
wants the poem to have. Many literary uses included internal rhymes, and
alliteration.

I interpreted that the poem was about the man in the poem mourning over
“Lenore.” {His dead lover}

I think Edgar tries to express the fight “death {the raven}—life {days of
Yore}” after he lost Lenore. I think at the end he realizes that he really
lost Lenore forever and that death won {and my soul out of the shadow {…}
shall be lifted nevermore…
Maybe this poem links to Edgar’s own life, and his own wife who died, and
all the feelings that the man in the poem had was the same feelings Edgar
had when his wife died.

This poem was about the main character’s struggle about his lost love
Lenore, and how the Raven was reminding him of how death won, and Lenore
can never come back.

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